TECHNOLOGY

A Swiss insurance worker lost her job after surfing popular social network site Facebook while off sick, her employer said on Friday.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp named former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta as chief executive of the MySpace online social network on Friday, replacing co-founder Chris DeWolfe.

Xerox Corp forecast a weaker-than-expected second-quarter profit and cut its full-year profit outlook nearly in half as its customers delay purchasing printing equipment and supplies.

U.S. software company Microsoft still sees value in a potential partnership with Yahoo even though it is no longer wants to buy it, chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Friday.

Samsung Electronics held off calling a recovery in its memory chip and flat panel businesses, though its mobile phone margins have overtaken those of market leader Nokia.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, reported a 72 percent drop in quarterly profit and said it was too early to call a recovery in demand or prices.

Samsung Electronics , the world's top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, reported on Friday a 72 percent drop in quarterly net profit on weak chip prices, but the result vastly exceeded forecasts thanks to strong handsets.

Samsung Electronics , the world's top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, reported on Friday a much better-than-expected profit as strong sales of its mobile phones offset another weak quarter for chips and LCD screens.

A solid crop of earnings reports from the leading lights of technology suggests the sector is proving adept at cost cuts and more resilient to the economic meltdown than previously thought.

Microsoft Corp's quarterly profit fell, but its shares rose as investors welcomed continuing efforts to cut costs and news that the release of the Windows 7 operating system is on track.

Amazon.com on Thursday posted higher quarterly net income, with revenue rising 18 percent in the sluggish global economy, beating Wall Street expectations and its shares rose 1 percent.

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that its quarterly revenue fell from the previous year for the first time in its 23-year history as a public company.

Microsoft Corp reported a sharp dip in quarterly profit on Thursday, but met Wall Street's lowered forecasts, hurt by a decline in technology spending in a global economic downturn.

(Corrects to show profit comparable to analysts' estimates was 39 cents per share, not 33 cents)

Microsoft Corp reported a sharp dip in quarterly profit on Thursday, missing Wall Street's lowered forecasts, hurt by a decline in technology spending in a global economic downturn.

IBM plans to launch several cloud computing services this year, taking on companies such as Amazon.com Inc, Google Inc, Microsoft Corp and Salesforce.com Inc.

German music authors' society GEMA said on Thursday it was in talks with Google Inc's YouTube to resolve a dispute over royalty payments and the conditions under which music videos are made available online.

Yahoo Inc is shutting down GeoCities, a free service that hosts personal home pages for consumers, which it acquired for more than $4 billion 10 years ago during the heyday of the dotcom boom.

Millions of Americans at this very moment are on online, scrolling, reading and typing at their computers.

Ahead of Amazon's earning report after Thursday's bell, analysts believe the company's earnings report will show some strain.

Nokia, the world's biggest maker of cell phones, said on Thursday it was too early to say whether demand for handsets has bottomed out.

A Nepali telecom firm plans to expand its mobile phone services to the top of Mount Everest, benefitting climbers on the world's highest mountain, a company official said on Thursday.

Apple has come under scrutiny after it released a rather insensitive 99-cent application, called Baby Shaker that allows the user to shake a baby in order to keep it from crying.

Shares of Apple Inc's climbed about 3 percent on Thursday, fueled by solid quarterly results and optimism about the maker of iPhones and Mac computers despite the weak economy.

Apple Inc's quarterly profit soared past Wall Street expectations on strong sales of iPhones and iPods, underscoring the popularity of the company's relatively expensive products even in the midst of a weak economy.

The European Commission, taking a major step toward fining and imposing sanctions on Intel Corp for violating antitrust law, has sent a draft decision ruling against the chip maker to EU member states, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

Logitech International S A , the world's largest computer mouse maker, reported a fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday, saying sales were hurt by weak consumer demand and the economic downturn.

Smart power grid company Echelon Corp and T-Mobile USA said on Thursday they had formed an alliance to use T-Mobile's wireless network to link smart meters to utilities.

The intelligence expert who prepared a still-secret study on cybersecurity for President Obama said on Wednesday the danger of attacks on U.S. computer networks cannot be fixed easily or quickly.